THREE CHANNELS, THREE SOUNDS
The Armageddon is a three channel amplifier head that is backed by four 6L6 power tubes to give you plenty of punch and volume with a really sweet mid range and tight low end response. The clean channel has its own dedicated EQ circuit, with channels two and three sharing their EQ. But that still leaves each channel sounding very different in its voicing. The clean is lovely. It is what you would expect of a clean channel in a 6L6 amp with plenty of headroom and a rich midrange that doesn’t leave it sound empty or lifeless. Channel two steps it up to a really great rock crunch. But, this doesn’t mean you can’t get a rich blues tone out of it either, winding back the gain and pushing the mids really gives this channel a very different response, especially when used with single coil pickups. Channel three however, is a beast. This channel gives you a powerful kick with heaps of gain to back it up. It still remains tight when you push the gain and doesn’t get too saggy when run hard. But, even though it is designed for metal, it too responds brilliantly when run with lower gain and higher master volume settings, saturating the power tubes and making them do all the work.
For those that just have to push it that little bit too far, the Armageddon features the wonderful addition of a built in IPS Decimator noise gate. This is one that is very popular for use with metal players as it has such a quick response time and opens and closes without any noticeable decay. You just need to set the threshold and it is ready to clean up you act. Best of all, the included foot switch runs off a standard XLR microphone cable, so when you destroy it with heavy stage use, it an easily be replaced.

AR412A ANGLED 4X12 CABINET
The matching speaker cabinet for this amplifier really does it justice. The AR412A is an angled cabinet with an X-pattern speaker array. You get two Celestion G12T75 speakers and two Egnater Celestion Elite 100 speakers in there, adding up to a whopping 350 watts of power handling. What this does is give you the characteristics of two different speakers, one louder than the other which has its tone affected by the underlying speakers’ qualities. This is an ideal match for the Armageddon as it brings out the richness of the 6L6 tubes as well as providing plenty of low end punch without getting to muddy in the process. All in all, this is probably the best sounding cabinet to match up with this unique amplifier.

By Rob Gee

RRP: $3395 (head) $1895 (cab)
Distributor: CMC Music
Phone: (02) 9905 2511
Website: www.cmcmusic.com.au

WHAT’S NEW
Cole Clark are still pumping out the Fat Lady in a range of models with various options (finishes, cutaway etc) — it’s the new 3-way pickup that has changed. The Bridge Piezo (under saddle) pickup and Face Piezo (sound board) pickup that were part of the Fat Lady’s initial success are still in action, you will now find the addition of a new Electret FET Microphone to this setup though. Without going into the absolute specifics of the system you have a pickup/preamp combination that harnesses the 3 sources and feeds them into the preamp so you can blend the amount of this new mic with the pickups too. Control wise the Fat Lady now comprises of  Blend which mixes the under bridge piezo and face (soundboard) pickup, Volume, Microphone Blend to control the mix of the microphone against your face/bridge level (no matter where it’s set) and then you have 3 EQ controls for Treble, Mid and Bass.

THREE WAY
As a starting point I really like the fundamental acoustic tone of the Fat Lady range. Clean and crisp they have a good response in the mids and low end that really projects but they can also have a soft and subtle feel that works with finger picking. One of their big selling points however is that they then really shine when they are plugged in. Thanks to the combination of bridge and soundboard pickup you can work the mix to get that blend of body resonance and percussiveness with your overall tone. In fact I was reminded how good they do sound when playing one recently at a gig through a decent sized club PA system — the full bodied tone and response of the guitar was awesome. Great for cutting through the mix but also sitting nicely without being harsh or overbearing. Now with the addition of the FET Mic you also get some extra openness and air to play with and this mic source seems to add some top end and space for a very pure acoustic tone and the ability to blend that with your face/soundboard level works a treat. You really can work this pickup/preamp combination to taste for a rounder, woody, relaxed tone right through to brighter and percussive or anything in between.

PICK ME UP
Often Acoustic guitars are all thrown into the one ‘acoustic’ basket. Truth be known  acoustic guitars have a plenty of variation just like their electric brothers thanks to timbers, shapes, pickups, hardware, designs and so the list goes on. Where does the Fat Lady sit? Acoustically for me I see this guitar as a natural, earthy sounding bigger bodied instrument with a clear, defined mid range making it suited to a range of styles and settings. I then love how good the pickup/preamp system works in a live setting making the Fat Lady 2 a great gigging guitar to boot. Cole Clark have built on their already super musical pickup system with the new Electret FET Microphone now giving players even more control and scope over the beautiful sounding Fat Lady guitars.

By Nick Brown

RRP: Call for pricing
Distributor: Cole Clark Guitars
Phone: 03 8727 5655
Web: www.coleclarkguitars.com

STRING THEORY
But the Cobalts are really going to excite a lot of electric players. Ernie Ball says its Cobalt Slinky Guitar Strings are engineered to maximise output and clarity and to provide an extended dynamic range with incredible harmonic response, increased low end, and crisp clear highs. Cobalt, a metal not known for its use in strings before now, provides a stronger magnetic relationship between pickups and strings than any other alloy, which you can expect to translate into stronger, fuller tone. Cobalt Slinkys are made with a cobalt-iron blend, and they’re also soft and silky to the touch: take one out of the packet and run it through your fingers and it glides along, with smoother wraps than any non-coated string I’ve ever encountered.
Various gauges are available: Extra Slinky, Super Slinky, Hybrid Slinky, Regular Slinky, Skinny Top/Heavy Bottom, Beefy Slinky, Power Slink and Not Even Slinky. Bass sets are available too in Extra Slinky, Super Slinky, Hybrid Slinky, Regular Slinky, Hower Slinky and Slinky Bass 5 (five string) sets.

STRING ‘EM UP
I strung up my Fender American Vintage ’62 Stratocaster with a set of Regular Slinky strings (10–46 gauge) and my ‘80s Fernandes Jazz Bass copy with the 50–105 Regular Slinky set. The first thing to become apparent, even unplugged, was that  that my Strat sounded more muscular, like I’d switched to a heavier string gauge but without the more robust string tension. In fact, the smoothness of the strings made bends feel easier to execute, especially on the wound strings, and I found myself exploring bends in regions of the fretboard that I don’t usually employ that technique in. Once I plugged in to my Marshall, the improvement was very noticeable: the guitar’s output became fuller, taking some of the twang out of the bridge pickup and making it more ‘SRV’ than ‘Hank Marvin.’ It was almost like adding some extra winds to the pickup, or stepping on a subtle clean boost pedal, because the magnetic relationship between the two was enhanced so much by the interaction between the cobalt and the alnico of my pickups. Ditto for the Fernandes bass: the increased fullness to the tone of my DiMarzio Area J pickups was almost like throwing on a compressor or limiter, in terms of how well it lifted the fullness of the tone. On bass, the high end content is very musical while the lows have lots of ‘thud.’

ALLOY ALLOY, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?
The Cobalt Slinkys do everything that Ernie Ball promises they’ll do: they play smoothly, they sound great, and they work with your pickups to enhance your tone and the interaction between particular crucial elements of your gear. Whether you personally like the way they feel is a matter of individual opinion but you can’t deny the science and the boost in tone.

By Peter Hodgson

RRP: $22.95 (guitar), $79.95 (bass)
Distributor: CMC Music
Phone: (02) 9905 2511
Website: www.cmcmusic.com.au

For more information on the Ampeg range of products, phone Music Link on (03) 9765 6565 or visit www.musiclink.com.au

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